14G SELECTED ESSAYS FROM LAY SERMONS 



of preparation, through the organisation of its biological 

 department. Here the student will find means of acquaint- 

 ing himself with the phenomena of life in their broadest 

 acceptation. He wull study not botany and zoology, which, 

 as I have said, would take him too far away from his ulti- 

 mate goal; but, by duly arranged instruction, combined 

 with work in the laboratory upon the leading types of ani- 

 mal and vegetable life, he will lay a broad, and at the same 

 time solid, foundation of biological knowledge; he will 

 come to his medical studies with a comprehension of the 

 great truths of morphology and of physiology, with his 

 hands trained to dissect and his eyes taught to see. I have 

 no hesitation in saying that such preparation is worth a 

 full year added on to the medical curriculum. In other 

 words, it will set free that much time for attention to those 

 studies which bear directly upon the student's most grave 

 and serious duties as a medical practitioner. 



Up to this point I have considered only the teaching 

 aspect of your great foundation, that function of the uni- 

 versity in virtue of which it plays the part of a reservoir of 

 ascertained truth, so far as our symbols can ever interpret 

 nature. All can learn; all can drink of this lake. It is given 

 to few to add to the store of knowledge, to strike new springs 

 of thought, or to shape new forms of beauty. But so sure 

 as it is that men live not by bread, but by ideas, so sure is 

 it that the future of the world lies in the hands of those who 

 are able to carry the interpretation of nature a step further 

 than their predecessors; so certain is it that the highest 

 function of a university is to seek out those men, cherish 

 them, and give their ability to serve their kind full play. 



I rejoice to observe that the encouragement of research 

 occupies so prominent a place in your official documents, 

 and in the wise and liberal inaugural address of your presi- 



